Shelf Life

Love, Not War

Ever since I saw the trailer for Hetalia at Anime Expo, I've been chomping at the bit to see it. A comedy about WWII? That's too weird and delightful to pass up. After slamming through the entire disc in one sitting, I was not disappointed. Look, all you naysayers, I realize Hetalia isn't 100% historically accurate, but if you were expecting Ken Burns: The Anime, then you need to unknot your panties. This series is less about history than it is about casting a humorous light on an otherwise bleak situation. It's stepping back, looking at a dark point in our collective history, and saying, “Yeah, we were all kind of assholes, weren't we?”

Hetalia plays out more like a scene from a comedy where political giants are acting out abridged versions of history with paper dolls. It's bitter and irreverent, and from that stems the humor. Every single country/character is a total stereotype, and it's uproarious. From France being a pushover who's upset at being left out of big decisions, to America being an egotistical loudmouth who eats too much, to England being an uptight jerkoff, to Italy being a namby-pamby who only cares about pasta, these are the stereotypes everyone knows. Even the people on their high horse about how the show is so mean and racist know that deep down inside, they totally get it. Go to any international sporting event and you'll hear the same jokes being thrown around. These are the images that each nation projects, and if you're offended, you really need to get over it.

Adding on to this powderkeg of fun is the amazing job that the English dub cast did. The crappy accents are possibly the best part. I can't tell if the accents are bad because the actors couldn't keep them going for episodes on end, or if they're bad on purpose, but I'm really hoping for the latter, because it's genius. The accents that fade in and out of recognition add to the already hilarious self-mocking aspect of the show. They're not meant to be realistic accents. These are the fake accents that we asshole Americans use to make fun of other countries, like the flamboyant Austrian and the sing-songy Italian. I almost died laughing when Italy's monologue spun off into a list of pasta types.

To be honest, I only watched maybe five minutes of the show in Japanese before switching it over to English for the rest of the disc. I'm sure it's just as funny in Japanese, but as a native English speaker, I found the dub track much easier to relate to. They say it's always harder to understand humor in a different language. For a show like Hetalia, though, I think a lot of the vocal humor is region-specific. If international licensors aren't redubbing this for their own audiences, then I wish they would. I'm sure the Germans have a stereotype of American accents that only they would get, just as I'm sure the British and the Chinese do.

At Anime Expo, I saw a giant gathering of Hetalia cosplayers. Two of them were Hispanics dressed up as Mexico. They had zarapes and mustaches and derogatory signs. It was one of the funniest things I saw all convention. There's great value in being able to embrace your own stereotype and laugh at yourself. If you have any kind of sense of humor at all, you should check out this series. [TOP]

Eden of the East has a good shot of being this year's best new show. It's the kind of show that makes you thankful that the entire series is crammed into one boxset. If I had to wait a week between every episode, I would've torn my hair out and paced back in forth in front of Production I.G, begging for a new installment. It's refreshing, it's riveting, and it unfolds so organically that you don't feel like you're being duped into watching a series with endless hooks.

It sounds trivial, but one of the things that instantly sets Eden of the East apart from its contemporary anime brethren is its grasp on reality. Everything about it lets you believe that it's set in the real world, from the American accents on the Washington DC cops, to all the movie references dropped by the main character. At one point, when the two leads are going through New York City landmarks on a camera, they manage to invoke Meg Ryan and Ground Zero within a minute of each other. What's the last anime you saw that talks about real live-action Hollywood films? When's the last time an anime acknowledged 9/11 as a real event? These are small details, but they're ones that ground you to reality, and let you think, “Hey, these are real people, who live in the real world.”

The main character is a 21-year-old named Akira, who woke up naked outside the White House with his memory wiped. His only possessions were a cell phone and a gun. After a bit of investigating, he realizes that he is one of twelve Selecao, "saviors" who've been handpicked by some shadowy overseer to rescue Japan from socioeconomic and political despair. They're given 10 billion yen, and the help of a concierge who will fulfill any request they make. Though, considering that this series takes place only a year or so from now, $123 million is not that much. But maybe that's part of the challenge. There's a complex system of rules about the “game,” but all that's important is that basically, unless you're the first one to save the country, you die.

Written by Kenji Kamiyama, who's lent his ideas to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Eden of the East really knows how to spin a good story. If this series had been written by a less talented person, it could've easily turned into an impotent cat-and-mouse chase about megalomaniacs running around trying to kill each other and take over the world. Instead, it's mindful about each Selecao's thought process, and really analyzes each person's ideas and how they use their money. One of the earliest ones introduced has spent his money building a private hospital, which provides not only hospice for the elderly, but also employment. In a much eerier scene, we see that before Akira lost his memories, his plan was to gather 20,000 NEETs (Not in Employment, Education, or Training) in one location and kill them (or so he thinks post-amnesia). Although there's a twist regarding this that's revealed later, it's a chilling, but thought-provoking comment speaks volumes without having to mention anything at all.

Without thumping the podium too hard here, I really think everyone should give Eden of the East a shot. It tells a really great story, and it's oozing with atmosphere. It's not every day that a series as fresh and complex as this is released, so you owe it to yourself to at least watch an episode or two. And it's streaming for free on Funimation's website, so you can't even use money as an excuse. Just check it out.[TOP]